Wide streets may bring people downtown but it doesn’t get them to stop there.
Signs help grab their attention but they aren’t what builds critical repeat traffic.
The downtowns that are thriving in Northern California aren’t doing so because they can beat the Wal-Marts and Amazon.coms of the world at their game. Places like Pleasanton, Livermore, and Lodi - cities close in size to Manteca - are succeeding as much as feasible in today’s trying economic times because they cash in on shopping as entertainment plus pure entertainment in the form of dining and leisure activities.
People don’t linger at Wal-Mart. Despite the fact Bass Pro Shop looks like one big gigantic sign the odds are they don’t lure impulse shoppers as much as they tell people heading there from the four corners of Northern California exactly where it is at. And being at the intersections of two wide streets and having plenty of parking hasn’t helped secure a business during the past 10 years for the vacant Long John Silver’s building at Louise and Main nor have they helped fill the old Mervyn’s center at Main and Mission Ridge.
It should be painfully obvious by now that those who dream of a “big name” retailer anchoring downtown’s “retail revival” need to move on. Borders is struggling. Big box retailers are thinking small. Even Wal-Mart is getting ready to roll out stores that are half the size of the current Manteca store.
As funny as it may sound, a venue such as downtown Manteca has a better opportunity to be successful in the more down-to-earth economy expected to emerge from the rubble of the mortgage implosion.
Shoppers driven purely by price and nothing else aren’t going to stampede to downtown Manteca even though they might be surprised in more than a few cases that the prices are better. Just ask anyone who has shopped a major chain mattress store and Bedquarters.
Most people aren’t going to think low prices and then think downtown. They will go to the mega-stores or shop on line.
Convenience could be a pitch for downtown but that is only in the long run if the city manages to encourage a more dense urban residential rebirth in the surrounding neighborhoods.
The real key is to go after leisure dollars by following the lead of those 15 years ago who had the foresight to create a convention and visitors bureau for Manteca.
At the time, they seemed a tad crazy. No one would come to Manteca to vacation. What they went after, though, were fraternal, religious and business groups as well as recreation sporting competitions that needed a place to gather and a central location.
Manteca can never compete with San Francisco for the front line tourist trade or massive conventions just like downtown can’t compete with Wal-Mart or Costco. The Manteca CVB wisely opted not to compete for something they knew they couldn’t secure so they went after a fairly lucrative niche market of folks who spend leisure money on recreational sports and such. The CVB - working with the city - gave people a reason to come to Manteca and to spend their money.
That is what downtown has to do - give people a reason to go there to spend money while understanding they have to play the game differently than the big boxes and others.
The expansion and makeover of Library Park into a true downtown plaza coupled with the Tidewater motif investment and other cosmetic streetscape touches provides an opportunity to launch a year-round bid to bring activities and events downtown on a weekly basis that in turn can provide a base for entrepreneurs whether they are in the restaurant business or specialty merchants.
At the same time, downtown should try to tap into the visitors’ traffic whether it is to BLD or Bass Pro Shops.
It is obvious after 30 plus years that downtown politics won’t let a partnership with the city succeed in any form.
That is why the city - with the biggest investment and biggest property holdings in downtown such as the library, Library Park, the future transit station, public parking, tennis courts, and the Tidewater - needs to move things forward and not wait for consensus.
It’s time to simply move on.
Signs help grab their attention but they aren’t what builds critical repeat traffic.
The downtowns that are thriving in Northern California aren’t doing so because they can beat the Wal-Marts and Amazon.coms of the world at their game. Places like Pleasanton, Livermore, and Lodi - cities close in size to Manteca - are succeeding as much as feasible in today’s trying economic times because they cash in on shopping as entertainment plus pure entertainment in the form of dining and leisure activities.
People don’t linger at Wal-Mart. Despite the fact Bass Pro Shop looks like one big gigantic sign the odds are they don’t lure impulse shoppers as much as they tell people heading there from the four corners of Northern California exactly where it is at. And being at the intersections of two wide streets and having plenty of parking hasn’t helped secure a business during the past 10 years for the vacant Long John Silver’s building at Louise and Main nor have they helped fill the old Mervyn’s center at Main and Mission Ridge.
It should be painfully obvious by now that those who dream of a “big name” retailer anchoring downtown’s “retail revival” need to move on. Borders is struggling. Big box retailers are thinking small. Even Wal-Mart is getting ready to roll out stores that are half the size of the current Manteca store.
As funny as it may sound, a venue such as downtown Manteca has a better opportunity to be successful in the more down-to-earth economy expected to emerge from the rubble of the mortgage implosion.
Shoppers driven purely by price and nothing else aren’t going to stampede to downtown Manteca even though they might be surprised in more than a few cases that the prices are better. Just ask anyone who has shopped a major chain mattress store and Bedquarters.
Most people aren’t going to think low prices and then think downtown. They will go to the mega-stores or shop on line.
Convenience could be a pitch for downtown but that is only in the long run if the city manages to encourage a more dense urban residential rebirth in the surrounding neighborhoods.
The real key is to go after leisure dollars by following the lead of those 15 years ago who had the foresight to create a convention and visitors bureau for Manteca.
At the time, they seemed a tad crazy. No one would come to Manteca to vacation. What they went after, though, were fraternal, religious and business groups as well as recreation sporting competitions that needed a place to gather and a central location.
Manteca can never compete with San Francisco for the front line tourist trade or massive conventions just like downtown can’t compete with Wal-Mart or Costco. The Manteca CVB wisely opted not to compete for something they knew they couldn’t secure so they went after a fairly lucrative niche market of folks who spend leisure money on recreational sports and such. The CVB - working with the city - gave people a reason to come to Manteca and to spend their money.
That is what downtown has to do - give people a reason to go there to spend money while understanding they have to play the game differently than the big boxes and others.
The expansion and makeover of Library Park into a true downtown plaza coupled with the Tidewater motif investment and other cosmetic streetscape touches provides an opportunity to launch a year-round bid to bring activities and events downtown on a weekly basis that in turn can provide a base for entrepreneurs whether they are in the restaurant business or specialty merchants.
At the same time, downtown should try to tap into the visitors’ traffic whether it is to BLD or Bass Pro Shops.
It is obvious after 30 plus years that downtown politics won’t let a partnership with the city succeed in any form.
That is why the city - with the biggest investment and biggest property holdings in downtown such as the library, Library Park, the future transit station, public parking, tennis courts, and the Tidewater - needs to move things forward and not wait for consensus.
It’s time to simply move on.
